Tuning Supramolecular Structure and Functions of Peptide bola-Amphiphile by Solvent Evaporation-Dissolution.
Anhe Wang, Lingyun Cui, Sisir Debnath, Qianqian Dong, Xuehai Yan, Xi Zhang, Rein V Ulijn, Shuo Bai
Author Information
Anhe Wang: State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 100190 Beijing, China.
Lingyun Cui: State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 100190 Beijing, China.
Sisir Debnath: WestCHEM, Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G1 1XL, United Kingdom.
Qianqian Dong: State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 100190 Beijing, China.
Xuehai Yan: State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 100190 Beijing, China. ORCID
Xi Zhang: MOE Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , 100084 Beijing, China. ORCID
Rein V Ulijn: WestCHEM, Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G1 1XL, United Kingdom.
Shuo Bai: State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 100190 Beijing, China. ORCID
Solvent molecules significantly affect the supramolecular self-assembly, for example, in forming solvent-bridged hydrogen bonding networks. Even small changes in solvent composition can have dramatic impact on supramolecular assembly. Herein, we demonstrate the use of trace solvents (as low as 0.04%) to tune the morphology and consequent functions of supramolecular nanostructures based on an aromatic peptide bola-amphiphile. Specifically, perylene bisimide-(di)glycine-tyrosine (PBI-[GY]) bola-amphiphile was shown to give rise to red-emitting nanofibers when assembled in water, while exposure to trace organic solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF) and others via solvent-evaporation followed by aqueous assembly gave rise to white-light-emitting nanospheres. Differential hydrogen bonding between water (donor and acceptor) and THF (acceptor only) impacts supramolecular organization, which was verified using a density functional theory (DFT) simulation. The tunable consequent surface hydrophobicity was utilized in staining the cytoplasm and membrane of cells, respectively. The trace-solvent effect achieved through evaporation-dissolution provides a methodology to mediate the morphologies and consequent functions for supramolecular biomaterials controlled by the self-assembly pathway.
